Alexander Conklin
Alexander Conklin is the ranking official directly overseeing field operations conducted by Treadstone at the time of Jason Bourne's contracting amnesia and disappearing. The Bourne Films In The Bourne Identity Conklin is first seen sitting as his desk observing a printed surveillance photo of Nykwana Wombosi's yacht when Danny Zorn alerts him of the ambiguous failed mission, to which Conklin appears to prepare to respond appropriately. He's next seen entering into the CIA's facilities in Langley, Virginia when the Treadstone team learns of Bourne's encounter with authorities in Zürich. Upon realizing the scale of the damage inflicted by Bourne, Conklin orders his team to activate all available agents to track Bourne and kill him. While the agents individually trace and engage Bourne, Conklin remains at the Treadstone office working constantly with him analysts to figure out what Bourne's intentions and whereabouts are. He's notified by Nicky Parsons when the first Treadstone agent Castel unsuccessfully attempts to take Bourne out at his Parisian home, resulting in Bourne disabling and interrogating him followed by Castel's suicide when Bourne left a window of opportunity. Conklin and his team continue throughout the movie to trace his whereabouts and cross-referencing any information they receive with Bourne's accomplice Marie Kreutz's history. They manage to track them to a pay phone south of Paris and eventually to Marie's step brother Eamonn's home in the French countryside. It's at his home that Bourne encounters and engages The Professor and first learns of Treadstone. After Eamonn takes Marie along with his family away from Bourne and the danger that surrounds him, Bourne goes through the Professors things and comes across his cell phone. He dials the last called number which puts him through to Nicky who in turn patches him through directly to Conklin in Langley. After a brief conversation with Bourne, Conklin embarassed and frustrated in front of his superior, Ward Abbott, instructs Danny to contact Nicky and tell her to prepare for his arrival in Paris. He has decided to handle the matter personally as Bourne has instructed Conklin to meet him on Pont Neuf later that day. When Conklin arrives at the designated meeting spot, he sets his team in place ready to apprehend Bourne when he arrives. However Bourne has observed the whole thing from a high vantage point and notifies Conklin that he's gone. As he departs he discreetly places a tracking device under the bumper of Conklin's van and follows the van to the Treadstone safe house from which Nicky works. It is at the safe house that Bourne bypasses the agents guarding the outside and scales the wall to infiltrate the room. He shuts off the power and phone lines as Conklin is working to dispose of the files Bourne may want, Conklin then retrieves Nicky's handgun from her field box to try and stop Bourne. However Bourne tricks him and interrogates him as to who or what Treadstone is. Conklin misunderstanding Bourne grills Bourne in return to find out what exactly happened in the failed assassination of Wombosi. Bourne begins to finally recall the events that had transpired weeks earlier on Wombosi's yacht and proceeds to knock Conklin unconscious after he realized Conklin had notified the agents outside. After dispatching all of the field agents, Bourne departs and Conklin leaves soon after. In the final scenes of the film, similar shots of Bourne and Conklin are seen as they both limp down a dimly lit side street in Paris combined with shots of the Treadstone operative Manheim fixing a suppressor onto his handgun. As he exits his car, preparing to kill one of them it is revealed that his target is Conklin whom he shoots twice in the chest and a final killshot in the head. It's then revealed that the order came down from Abbott to have Conklin killed and Treadstone is officially disbanded. Conklin is only mentioned in passing or seen in either flashbacks or when his service jacket is viewed on screen. In The Bourne Supremacy Conklin is seen several times as Jason has dreams and flashbacks of his first mission in Berlin, Germany when he assassinated Vladimir Neski, Conklin was onsite to oversee that Bourne's training was complete through his accomplishing the mission. In The Bourne Ultimatum Conklin's service jacket is seen with his ID photo amidst many of the other victims of Treadstones operations. Bourne Novels In the Robert Ludlum novels, Conklin plays a far different party than in the films. Alex has an artificial leg due to an injury involving a mine during the Vietnam war. During the war he recruited Jason into a top secret military outfit called Medusa; they were close friends before the war, having enjoyed a few dinners together in Saigon and continued to be friends until Jason's amnesia as a result of his injuries. Alexander Conklin was a friend of Bourne's first wife and their children, having played in the water together with their two sons. After a Bureau print team recover a glass of half-finished wine with Bourne's fingerprints on it, Jason is believed to have gone rogue due to his amnesia and despite having tried to kill Jason in The Bourne Identity, Conklin realises his mistake and helps save Jason. The mistake of trying to kill Jason is something which continues to haunt him throughout the novels. Incidentally, Conklin fell into a downward spiral and became a drunken recluse, someone who people from the Intelligence community decided to evade and, as a result, did not inform him of any hearsay, recent events etc. However, in the second novel the two of them reconcile, leading to Conklin's transformation; when he enters a CIA building, he is wearing a neatly pressed, pinstriped suit combined with a clean shave. Conklin is a recovering alcoholic as evidenced in the third novel, however he still, on occasion enjoys a few drinks in moderation. Jason and Conklin remain very close friends and, along with Jason's psychiatrist Moris Panov, Alex helps Jason and his wife Marie on many occasions. He is not killed in the the first book, the character goes on into Supremacy and Ultimatum, remaining a close friend of David and Marie, assisting them numerous times. Howeve he was controversially killed in The Bourne Legacy, when Hungarian assassin Stepan Spalko killed both Conklin and Panov, framing Bourne for this; he wanted to prove his ultimate potential as an assassin. Notes: Conklin was extremely protective of Marie and her mental wellbeing; when David Webb/Jason Bourne decides to fake his death in the Bourne Ultimatum, Alex goes so far as to call him "a son of a bitch". He deeply cared for their children, as he believed that if Bourne became affiliated once more with his former employers i.e. the CIA (in order to lure Carlos into a trap), then this would result in Bourne's demise whilst simultaneously leaving his children fatherless, stating "That's reality, David". Conklin was a highly regarded CIA tactician, using his skillfulness and expertise to identify the select Government officials directly involved with the Medusa operation in The Bourne Ultimatum. However, he did not often think on the same wavelength as David, more than often leading to intense arguments between the two. He showed contempt in the sequels of the Bourne Trilogy at the government for continually blackmailing David into working for them, and for smuggling Jason Bourne's top-secret CIA personnel file in The Bourne Ultimatum, as well as the Medusa files. My thoughts: I believe that so many Intelligence officials despised Conklin following the events of the first novel for calling out a massive manhunt search for such an insignificant purpose, i.e. the death of one rogue CIA operative. I know Bourne played a crucial role within Medusa and Treadstone Seventy One, a secret black ops arm of the CIA, however the others might not have acknowledged that considering the fact that he wasn't even successful in defeating the Jackal (prior to the events of The Bourne Ultimatum), and the fact that he was once a ruthless, albeit effective guerrilla leader during the Medusa operation, as he disregarded conduct and directly disobeyed orders issued by Command Saigon. Furthermore, the unaccountable for and unreturned funds might have been courtesy of a Black Vault (funds free of government scrutiny, therefore the funding might have been obtained illegally). Category: Individuals